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THE 

Food Value of Margarin 
or Oleomargarine 



By J. S. ABBOTT 

Secretary, Institute of Margarin Manufacturers 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 



BULLETIN J§^ 2 
September 30, 1921 



The object of this bulletin is to encourage a correct /understanding 
by the public of Margarin or Oleomargarine 



$J 



ISSUED BY THE 

INSTITUTE OF MARGARIN MANUFACTURERS 

1212 MUNSEY BUILDING 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 

For further information > address this office 



THE 

Food Value of Margarin 
or Oleomargarine 



- 



! 



By J. S. ABBOTT 

Secretary, Institute of Margarin Manufacturers 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 



BULLETIN No. 2 
September 30, 1921 



The object of this bulletin is to encourage a correct understanding 
by the public of Margarin or Oleomargarine 



* 



ISSUED BY THE 

INSTITUTE OF MARGARIN MANUFACTURERS 

1212 MUNSEY BUILDING 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 

For further information, address this office 



<5 f £ ' 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/foodvalueofmargaOOabbo 



s 



The Food Value of Margarin 
or Oleomargarine 

By J. S. ABBOTT 

Secretary, Institute of Margarin Manufacturers 

Washington, D. C. 

The importance of fat in the human dietary has been a 
matter of common knowledge for ages, but this fact was never 
greatly emphasized on a world scale until near the close of the 
war. The sources of the edible fats of different countries differ 
somewhat. Until recently, the people of this country obtained 
their fats, as fats, almost exclusively from cattle, hogs, and 
sheep in the form of butter, lard, and "drippings." Olive oil 
has been a common foodstuff for centuries in many countries 
of the old world. Cocoanut oil is eaten in large quantities in 
the tropical countries in which cocoanuts are grown. Cotton- 
seed oil, peanut oil, corn oil, and many other vegetable oils have 
recently become common articles of food in this country, either 
as cooking fats or as salad oils. Margarin is a combination of 
edible fats and milk, skim milk, or cream. 

The following statements appear in Bulletin 469 of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture : 

"A discussion of animal fats would not be complete 
without some mention of oleomargarine, called 'margarin' 
in Europe. The principal fats used in its manufacture 
in the United States are oleo oil, neutral lard (that is, 
a specially rendered lard), and cottonseed and other oils. 
All these ingredients must be pure and prepared with 
3 



care in order that none of them shall have any marked 
taste or odor. These are mixed in such proportions as 
will give the final product a melting point very near that 
of butter. After being thoroughly mixed the fats are 
churned with a small quantity of milk and sometimes 
cream, the proportions of these used depending upon the 
quality of the product desired. In the preparation of 
high-grade oleomargarine varying quantities of butter are 
also added. The resulting product is then washed, salted, 
and worked as in ordinary butter-making processes. 
Oleomargarine is not used as extensively in this country 
as in Europe, where it serves both for table and culinary 
purposes." 

The principal fats and oils used in the manufacture of 
margarin at the present time are oleo oil, "neutral, 1 " peanut oil, 
cottonseed oil, and cocoanut oil. 

The value of any fat or oil as food depends upon its 
digestibility, energy value, looks, taste, and texture. In recent 
years fats and oils, as well as many other foodstuffs, have been 
declared to contain certain food accessory substances, called 
vitamines, which are believed to play an important role in 
nutrition. 

Digestibility. 

The digestibility of some of the common edible fats, ac- 
cording to Bulletins 310, 505, and 613 of the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture, is as follows : 

Per cent. Per cent. 

Margarin 97.55 Oleo oil 96.8 

Butter 97. "Neutral" 97. 

Cocoanut oil 97.9 Peanut oil 98.3 

Cottonseed oil 97 .8 



Energy Value. 

The value of a fat as a food is commonly expressed in 
terms of its energy value, or calories. For the fats above, accord- 
ing tp Bulletin 469 of the IT. S. Department of Agriculture, 
they are as follows : 

Calories. Calories. 

1 pound margarin 3,500 1 pound oleo oil 4,080 

1 pound butter 3,490 1 pound "Neutral" 4,080 

1 pound cocoanut oil 4,080 1 pound peanut oil 4,080 

1 pound cottonseed oil 4,080 

It is clear, therefore, that margarin is the equal of butter, 
in so far as their digestibilities and energy values are concerned. 
This fact was made known a long time ago by such famous 
nutrition experts as Luhrig, Barterelli, Hulbgren, Landergren, 
and Halliburton and Drummond. 1 Taylor very recently con- 
firmed it. 2 

Taste, Looks, and Texture. 

The taste, looks, and texture of foodstuffs are just as 
important food values as digestibility and energy. There are 
no units of measurements of these values. As they occur in 
high grades of butter, they have been acceptable to consumers 
for centuries. Margarin manufacturers, therefore, have striven, 
and with great success, to incorporate the same properties into 
margarin. So successfully have they been that it would take 
an expert taster to tell the difference between good butter and 
margarin at the factories or as long as they have been properly 
kept. This fact can be appreciated when it is remembered that 
the chief difference in the composition of butter and margarin 
is that one contains milk fat and the other contains milk fat 



and animal or vegetable fats, or a mixture of two or more of 
them. 

Fats themselves have very little taste or flavor. On this 
point Holmes and Lang 3 make the following statement: 

"The flavors and odors of fats are probably due to 
the presence in them of small amounts of difficultly re- 
movable substances rather than to specific properties of 
the pure fats themselves, in view of the fact that flavors 
and odors become much less noticeable the more com- 
pletely the fats are purified. The characteristic flavor 
of butter, for example, is due to the absorption by the 
fat of the substances formed in the fermentation of milk 
and cream by lactic acid and bacteria and to the presence 
of small particles of the curd." 

The flavor of margarin is likewise due to "the absorption 
by the fat of the substances formed in the fermentation of milk 
and cream by lactic acid and bacteria and to the presence of 
small particles of the curd/' Each type of margarin made in 
this country is made by churning fats and oils in ripened milk 
or cream and gets its flavor from them. The color and texture 
likewise simulate those of good uncolored butter. When 
margarin is colored it looks like colored butter. 

In consideration of the digestibility, energy value, taste, 
looks, and texture of good butter and margarin, it is apparent 
that the one may be substituted for the other as a table fat or 
as a culinary fat. 

In consideration of cleanliness and wholesomeness, there 
are possibilities of wide differences. Nearly all of the margarin 
made in the United States is made under the constant super- 
vision of Federal Government inspectors, and therefore complies 
with all of the hygienic requirements of the Government. There 
is no such supervision over the manufacture of butter. 

6 



Fat-Soluble Vitatnines. 

Vitamines have been divided into two classes, viz., those 
that are freely soluble in fats and those that are freely soluble 
in water. Fat-soluble vitamines are also somewhat soluble in 
water. The fat-soluble vitamines are commonly spoken of as 
fat-soluble A. 

Just what foodstuifs contain appreciable quantities of the 
fat-soluble vitamines has been the subject of tedious investiga- 
tions by nutrition experts for about ten years. A compilation 
of all the work done on this problem was made and reported in 
July, 1919, by a committee appointed jointly by the Lister 
Institute of Preventive Medicine and the Medical Research 
Committee of National Health Insurance, England. 4 This 
authority makes the following statement concerning the source 
and quantity of fat-soluble vitamines in our various foodstuffs: 

"The primary sources of fat-soluble A are found in 
the green leaves of plants and the embryos of certain 
seeds. The former appear to be the richer source, but 
very few quantitative data upon the distribution of the 
substance have yet been obtained. It is, therefore, 
difficult to attach a definite value to any individual food- 
stuff as a source of fat-soluble A. This is particularly 
true in the case of the foodstuffs of animal origin, as 
their value as sources of that factor is in all probability 
directly determined by the nature of the diet which the 
animal has previously received. Thus, the milk yielded 
by a cow which has for some time past been receiving 
a diet deficient in fat-soluble A will, without doubt, 
sooner or later show the same deficiency. 

"The following tabulation of the chief foodstuffs 
has been made with the object of illustrating the distri- 
bution of the fat-soluble A factor : 



Foodstuffs That Contain Fat-Soluble Vitamines. 



Butter. 
Cream. 
Margarin prepared from animal 

fats other than lard. 
Nut butter. 
Mutton and beef fat. 
Heart. 
Brain. 

Sweetbreads. 
Linseed. 
Linseed cake (after expulsion of 

oil). 
Peas. 

Kidney beans. 
Soy-beans. 
Cabbage (fresh). 
Cabbage (dried). 
Lettuce. 
Spinach. 

Carrots (fresh). 
Carrots (dried). 



Cod-liver oil and other fish liver 
oils. 

Herring oil, salmon, or cod oil. 

Liver. 

Kidneys. 

Onions. 

Potatoes. 

"Fat" fish, as herring, salmon. 

Fish roe. 

Wheat embryo. 

Maize embryo. 

Rice embryo and bran (i. e., so- 
called rice polishings). 

Whole-meal bread. 

Millet. 

Bananas. 

Nuts (walnuts). 

Cheese (prepared from whole 
milk). 

Eggs (yolk). 

Eggs (dried). 



It will be noted in the table above that the Committee, by 
inference, stated that margarin made from lard does not contain 
the fat-soluble vitamine. Margarins are not made of lard in 
this country. 

The fat-soluble vitamine content of animal and vegetable 
oils has been the subject of more careful investigations. Many 
of these fats and oils hitherto reported as deficient in these 
bodies have been found to be fairly rich in them. Daniels and 
Loughlin 5 found that rats fed on a ration from which all fat- 
soluble A had been removed except what was in the lard of the 
ration "grew normally, reproduced, and reared their young." 

8 



They got the same results with cottonseed oil. Both of these 
fats are used in the manufacture of margarins. 

Just as lard and cottonseed oil have recently been found to 
contain quite a plenty of fat-soluble A to promote growth, 
reproduction, and the rearing of the young of animals, just so 
it may be that all other fats and oils hitherto reported to be 
deficient in it are quite efficient in this respect. 

The same kind of fat or oil at different times and under 
varying circumstances may contain different quantities of fat- 
soluble vitamines. They are not present in some grades of 
butter. Steenbock 6 says the vitamine content of butter varies 
with the breed and feed of the cow. He reported one experiment 
in which the butter fat of a cow fed exclusively on alfalfa hay 
did not contain any fat-soluble vitamines. 7 

Only a very few researches have been carried on to de- 
termine the fat-soluble vitamine content of margarins. The 
milk and cream and the fats and oils used in the manufacture 
of margarin contain these vitamines. 4 - 5 » 8> 9 The processes of 
the manufacture of margarin do not affect them. All types of 
margarins contain appreciable quantities of fat-soluble vita- 
mines. 

From the foregoing facts, it is clear that there is not any 
essential difference between butter and margarin with respect 
to these food-accessory substances. Butter and margarin are 
as much alike in digestibility, energy value, taste, looks, texture, 
and vitamines as it is possible for two products to be alike and 
not be the same thing. 

As was shown above, fat-soluble vitamines occur in nu- 
merous foodstuffs. Hence the chance of a failure to get a 
sufficient quantity of them in our diet is exceedingly small. 
More important than this fact, however, is the fact that animals 



have the power to store up in their systems enough fat-soluble 
vitamines to carry them over long periods of time without an 
additional supply. "Osborne and Mendel fed rats dried spinach, 
which is rich in fat-soluble vitamines, to the extent of 5 per cent 
of the diet, as the only source of fat-soluble vitamines, for 87 
and 83 days; then substituted the spinach by yeast, which 
is free from the fat-soluble vitamine. The rats continued to 
thrive for 93 days and 97 days longer; that is, they had stored 
up enough of the fat-soluble vitamine from the spinach to last 
them through the long period of deprivation." 10 The same pro- 
vision of nature is seen in the bearing and rearing of the young 
of animals. The natural breeding time of cattle, for example, is 
in the spring time. The young are born in the spring time when 
the mother animal has a chance to get an abundant supply of 
green grass and leafy vegetation, which, as has been noted, are 
the original sources of vitamines. By winter time these animals 
have stored up sufficient vitamines to carry them through the 
winter months, when their feed is deficient, if not entirely 
lacking, in fat-soluble vitamines. 

In view of the foregoing facts, it is not at all strange that 
Katherine Blunt, 10 in her closing remarks on the Present Status 
of Vitamines, made the following comment: 

"It is difficult to say what is the importance to the 
average individual of giving thought to these three vita- 
mines in choosing the diet." 



10 



References. 

1. Halliburton and Drummond, The Journal of Physiology, Septem- 

ber, 1917. 

2. Dr. A. E. Taylor, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. 

The Saturday Evening Post, March 5, 1921. 

3. A. D. Holmes and H. L. Lang, Bulletin 469, U. S. Department of 

Agriculture. 

4. Report on the Present State of Knowledge concerning Accessory 

Food Factors (Vitamines), Medical Research Committee, Na- 
tional Health Insurance. Special Report Series No. 38, Lon- 
don, July, 1919. 

5. Amy L. Daniels and Rosemary Loughlin, Department of Nutrition, 

Child Welfare Research Station, University of Iowa, Iowa 
City. Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 42, No. 3. 

6. H. Steenbock, Laboratory of Agricultural Chemistry, University 

of Wisconsin. The Science Press, Vol. 50, p 352. 

7. Journal of Biological Chemistry, September, 1918. 

8. Proceedings of the Physiological Society, London, January 27, 

1917, p. VIII. 

9. E. V. McCollum, Journal of Home Economics, May, 1917. 

10. Katherine Blunt and Chi Che Wang, University of Chicago. The 
Journal of Home Economics, Vol. 12, No. 1. 



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